Melodia
Dogma: ''Let the divine music guide your steps in life's dance. Art is done for art's sake. Always give your utmost performance, whether you play for a king or a pauper. Always end the day with a good story. Use your talents to benefit those in need. Life is a song, beginning at birth and only silences with the final chord. ''Beliefs: Destroy no music or instrument, nor stop a singer before the tune is done. Listen to the world around as well as filling it with your own sound. Spread the teaching of song and musicianship always. Sing to Melodia every day. Music is the most precious thing folk can create--so encourage its training, use, and preservation at all times and in all possible ways. Awaken a love of song in all folk you can, and offer its performance freely around campfire or on the trail. Cease not in your own seeking for new tunes, new techniques, and new instruments to master. Clergy: ''Clergy and Clerics of Melodia pray for their spells upon awakening at sunrise, calling out to their deity with the Song of Praise, which is also sung after every victory in battle or great thing that benefits them. Clergy spend their time learning lyrics, tunes, and how to best perform them on a slowly expanding repertoire of instruments both in their temples and on the road. They take care to write down both original compositions and those they have learned, using magic to record such works for those as yet unborn. Clergy work as tutors to all who profess faith in Melodia or who pay for the training, as well as judging many bardic contests and adjudicating bardic disputes between individuals, companies, or colleges. More adventuresome clerics roam the roads of Zoa, rescuing or protecting common minstrels and great bards alike when such individuals fall on hard times or into peril and accompanying adventurers of other faiths on deeds of heroism so that they can compose ballads about what befell. Some embark on adventures of their own to recover music, instruments, and the like from old ruins and tombs, or learn of music long gone by using legend lore spells and similar magics. ''Bards: The Bards of Silence is a group of bards that have taken a vow of silence. Instead of song, they write poetry and keep records of music. The Bards of Melodia are a group dedicated to keeping music alive. They often go after relics or artifacts with a musical purpose. They have also been known to appear at festivals, play for Kings, and tell the most lavish stories. ''Temples: ''Temples are often large and near the center of towns. They often host special performances on their stages. They are also home to practice rooms. All shared rituals of worship to Melodia involve a sung or played opening call, a prayer and solo song while kneeling before the altar, a unison hymn followed by a sermon or supplication to the Queen of Song (and the proffering of any offerings), and then a closing song that rises to a thunderous, grand crescendo that typically makes devout listeners or participants weep with joy--and those of other faiths stop and listen in wonder. ''Holy Days: ''Spring Rise - 4th of Ridwan: when the Call to the Flowers is sung by all faithful. The Grand Revel - 2nd of Wamt: The Revel involves a feast, dancing, and much roistering, and is marked by parodies and wickedly satirical song. Category:Religion Category:Gods